The Force is strong with Stormtrooper costume designer in Star Wars court battle

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The might of George Lucas’s Star Wars Empire has been felled by designer Andrew Ainsworth in a court room win of galactic proportions.

Ainsworth is the brains behind the iconic Stormtrooper costumes that featured throughout Lucas’s space saga, and favourites of sci-fi fans and fancy dress wearers the world over.

Ainsworth had been madking a business out of selling authentic replica Stormtrooper suits until Lucas’s legal teams came knocking in 2004. Lucas claimed the costumes were part of his artistic work, and thus belonged to him. Ainsworth argued that they were functional industrial designs that he could do with as he saw fit as copyright laws didnt fully apply.

It’s been a tough legal battle for Ainsworth, who was threatend with a £12m lawsuit. But the Force was strong with designer, who has won the case, and the right to continue selling his creations in the UK.

“This is a massive victory, a total victory, we’ve already got the champagne out,” Ainsworth told the BBC. “Art is like a Rodin sculpture, film production is an industry and that’s what these products are, they were always industrial designs.

“I am proud to report that in the English legal system David can prevail against Goliath if his cause is right. If there is a Force, then it has been with me these past five years.”